education

If public students are migrating to private schools via a first-of-a-kind state program, it’s happening in a trickle. But some public school advocates worry that the exodus soon could become a torrent.

The Legislature took its first steps Feb. 20 toward gutting Common Core, three years after the learning standards were adopted and a year before students are to begin testing on them. The Senate Education Committee passed on a 6-3 partisan vote three bills that give school districts the authority to create their own learning standards and another that keeps the state Board of Education from implementing Common Core.

U.S. Rep. Raul Grijalva is calling on the federal government to investigate whether state Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal broke federal law by providing telephone numbers for a recorded telephone pitch he gave Feb. 11 for empowerment scholarships.

Public school and progressive groups have unleashed their fury at Superintendent of Public Instruction John Huppenthal for hawking voucher-like empowerment scholarship accounts, even though he is among the fiercest proponents of school choice and the scholarship program.